Open-end ratchet wrench

ABSTRACT

An open-end ratchet wrench is disclosed comprising a wrench handle having integral therewith a jaw and a support portion for a jaw piece movable between locked and open or ratcheting positions. The movable jaw piece has an elongated pivot slot and a substantially L-shaped guide slot engaging pins on the wrench support portion for determining the position of the movable jaw piece relative to the fixed jaw. Spring means are connected between the handle support and the movable jaw piece for normally urging the pivot pin to a rest position in the pivot slot and the guide pin to a locked position in the guide slot thereby normally holding the opposed working surfaces of the fixed jaw and said movable jaw piece in a working relationship gripping opposed surfaces of a nut.

United States Patent [191 Causey Aug. 26, 1975 OPEN-END RATCHET WRENCH [76] lnventor: Burnice J. Causey, Rt. No. 2 Box l14-A, Shallotte, NC. 28459 22 Filed: Mar. 9, 1973 211 App]. No; 339,578

Primary ExaminerAl Lawrence Smith Assistant Examiner-James G. Smith Attorney, Agent, or FirmSchuyler, Birch, Swindler, McKie & Beckett [5 7 ABSTRACT An open-end ratchet wrench is disclosed comprising a wrench handle having integral therewith a jaw and a support portion for a jaw piece movable between locked and open or ratcheting positions. The movable jaw piece has an elongated pivot slot and a substantially L-shaped guide slot engaging pins on the wrench support portion for determining the position of the movable jaw piece relative to the fixed jaw. Spring means are connected between the handle support and the movable jaw piece for normally urging the pivot pin to a rest position in the pivot slot and the guide pin to a locked position in the guide slot thereby normally holding the opposed working surfaces of the fixed jaw and said movable jaw piece in a working relationship gripping opposed surfaces of a nut.

4 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures OPEN-END RATCHET WRENCH BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to an open ended ratchet wrench having a nut gripping jaw, the wrench'inc'luding a lockable jaw piece which is unlocked for movement of the jaw from one pair of faces of the nut to another by an inward movement of thewrench.

Ratcheting open-end wrenches are known in the prior art. Hyman US. Pat. No. 749,134 and Barnes us. Pat. No. 1,393,070 both disclose open-end wrenches, adjustable or not, which, if operated with the pivoted jaw at the bottom, would provide a firm grip upon the nut when pressure is exerted in a downward direction but would release for turning about the nut to obtain another grip when the wrench handle is pushed inwardly toward the nut and lifted. Upon reapplication of a downward force the wrench would again grip the nut firmly. Neff US. Pat. No. 3,309,949 discloses an open-end wrench which, if operated with the pivoted jaw at the top, would provide a firm grip upon a nut when force is exerted on the handle in a downward direction but which would release for turning about the nut to obtain another grip if pressure onthe handle is exerted inwardly toward the nut and upwardly. Logan US. Pat. No. 2,618,996 and Day US. Pat. No. 2,846,912 disclose other versions of ratcheting openend wrenches which would provide a firm grip on a nut when pressure is exerted downwardly and which will release to turn about the nut to obtain another grip when pressure is directed upwardly on the handle.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of this invention to provide a new and improved open-end ratchet wrench of simplified yet durable construction, easy to use and providing sure and certain locking and unlocking features to grip the faces of a nut or release to move to new faces of a nut as desired. In summary, this open-end ratchet wrench comprises a wrench handle having integral therewith a jaw and a support portion of a jaw piece movable between locked and open or ratcheting positions. The movable jaw piece has an elongated pivot slot and a substantially L-shaped guide slot engaging pins on the wrench support portion for determining the position of the movable jaw piece relative to the fixed jaw. Spring means are connected between the support portion and the movable jaw piece for urging the pivot pin to a rest position in said pivot slot and the guide pin to a locked position in the guide slot thereby normally urging the opposed working surfaces of the fixed jaw and the movable jaw piece into a working relationship gripping opposed surfaces of the nut. By moving the wrench inward toward the nut the movable jaw piece is displaced relative to the support portion so that the pivot and guide pins are moved to the head or pivot position of the pivot slot and beyond the locking shoulder of the L-shpaed guide slot respectively, the jaw piece thereby being moved relative to the handle jaw portion so that the wrench jaws may be moved relative to the nut to grip a new pair of faces of the nut.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a partial plan view of an exemplary embodiment of the open-end ratchet wrench of this invention in the working position.

FIG. 2 is a'plan view of the ratchet wrench of FIG. 1 in a position intermediate between ratcheting and working positions.

FIG. 3 is a view of the ratchet wrench of FIG. 1 .in the open, ratcheting position.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT in the elongated-pivot slot 18 and substantial] L'-shaped.

guide slot 16 of the movable jaw piece 20. The pin 14 functions as a pivot pin for movable jawpiece 20 and the pin 12 functions as a guide pin for jaw piece 20 between" the locked, working position and the open, ratcheting position'of this jaw piece and wrench. The significance of the shapes'of slotsl6, 18 is explained more fully below.

The jaw piece 20 is controllably' positioned by a first spring 26 compressible fastened between a pin 30 near to the rear' of support portion 10 and a pin 32 forward of guide slot 16 and adjacent the working surface-22' of movable jaw 2 0"and 'a'second'spri'ng 28 compressibly fastened between a pin 36 near the rear of the support portion 10 and the junction between the head 3 and handle 2, and a pin 37 atthe rear of'rnovable jaw portion 20 below pivot slot 18.

Compression springs 26 and 28 are provided to urge the movable jaw 20 into a position such that the working surface 22 thereof is normally urged into a parallel relationship with working surface 6 of head portion 4.

The spring 26 normally urges the distal portion of movable piece 20 toward a closed position wherein the guide pin 12 is locked in the base portion 40 of guide slot 18 below shoulder 52 and pivot pin 14 rests in the lower portion 42 of pivot slot 18. The wrench is now closed and locked and may be used to turn the nut.

To release the grip of the wrench 1 on the nut 8, the wrench 1 is pushed toward the nut being gripped. As appears in FIG. 2, as the wrench 8 is moved toward the nut 8 shoulder 49 of movable jaw piece 20 abuts nut 8, forcing movable jaw portion 20 backward relative to support portion 10, further compressing springs 26, 28; moving pivot pin 14 into the head portion or active pivot position 50 of pivot slot 18; and moving guide pin 12 out of base portion 40 of guide slot 16 and above shoulder 52 so that the pin may move through stern portion 54 thereof as the movable jaw piece moves to the open, ratcheting position.

As the wrench is turned in the clockwise direction (FIG. 2) the nut 8 continues to abut the shoulder 49 and gripping surface 22, forcing the movable jaw 20 to pivot about pin 14 and moving pin 12 to the head of the stem 58 of guide slot 16. The wrench is now in the open ratcheting position, and may be moved clockwise to grip the next pair of surfaces of the nut (FIG. 3). When the wrench is aligned with these two surfaces, the wrench is withdrawn slightly from the nut 8, so that shoulder 49 no longer forcibly abuts nut 8. The compression springs then force the movable jaw piece 20 forwardly toward nut 8 returning pivot pin 14 to the foot 42 of pivot slot 18 and moving guide pin 12 around shoulder 52 and into base portion 40 of guide slot 16. The guide pin 12 thus locks the working surface 22 adjacent a face of nut 8 so that the wrench may again turn the nut.

Although the best mode of the invention shown to the inventor is described herein and shown in the appended drawings it is to be understood that the scope of the invention is not to be limited thereto, the invention being susceptible of changes in form within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A ratchet wrench comprising a handle having a jaw and a jaw support portion integral therewith, a jaw piece movable between working and ratcheting positions having an elongated pivot slot engaging a pivot pin integral with said jaw support portion and a guide slot engaging a guide pin integral with said jaw support portion, and spring means connected between said jaw support portion and said movable jaw piece for urging said pivot to a rest position in said pivot slot and said guide pin to a locked position in said guide slot for locking said jaw and said jaw piece in a fixed working relationship, said guide slot being substantially L- shaped and comprising base and stem portions separated by a shoulder, said spring means normally urging said guide pin to a position in said base portion below said shoulder whereby said pin is locked below said shoulder and said jaw piece is fixed relative to said handle jaw in a working position.

2. A wrench as claimed in claim 1 wherein said spring means include a first spring extending between said jaw support portion and, a location on said movable jaw piece substantially forward of said guide slot base portion relative to a gripping surface of said jaw, and a second spring extending between said jaw support portion and a location on said movable jaw piece substantially rearward of said pivot slot so that said guide and pivot pins are normally located in said guide and pivot slots to lock said movable jaw piece in a working relationship with said handle jaw.

3. A wrench as claimed in claim 1 wherein said movable jaw piece includes a shoulder portion adjacent a working surface of said movable jaw piece and adapted to be forcibly abutted by a nut on which said wrench is locked for moving said movable jaw piece relative to said support portion against the action of said spring means to a ratcheting position, said pivot pin moving form a foot portion of said pivot slot to a head pivot position in said pivot slot, said guide pin moving from said base portion of said guide slot past said shoulder to said stem portion of said guide slot.

4. A wrench as claimed in claim 3 wherein said spring means include a first spring extending between said jaw support portion and a location on said movable jaw substantially forward of said guide slot base portion relative to a gripping surface of said jaw, and a second spring extending between said jaw support portion and a location on said movable jaw piece substantially rearward of said pivot slot, said pivot pin being normally held in the foot of said pivot slot, said guide pin being normally held below the shoulder in said base portion of said guide slot. 

1. A ratchet wrench comprising a handle having a jaw and a jaw support portion integral therewith, a jaw piece movable between working and ratcheting positions having an elongated pivot slot engaging a pivot pin integral with said jaw support portion and a guide slot engaging a guide pin integral with said jaw support portion, and spring means connected between said jaw support portion and said movable jaw piece for urging said pivot to a rest position in said pivot slot and said guide pin to a locked position in said guide slot for locking said jaw and said jaw piece in a fixed working relationship, said guide slot being substantially L-shaped and comprising base and stem portions separated by a shoulder, said spring means normally urging said guide pin to a position in said base portion below said shoulder whereby said pin is locked below said shoulder and said jaw piece is fixed relative to said handle jaw in a working position.
 2. A wrench as claimed in claim 1 wherein said spring means include a first spring extending between said jaw support portion and a location on said movable jaw piece substantially forward of said guide slot base portion relative to a gripping surface of said jaw, and a second spring extending between said jaw support portion and a location on said movable jaw piece substantially rearward of said pivot slot so that said guide and pivot pins are normally located in said guide and pivot slots to lock said movable jaw piece in a working relationship with said handle jaw.
 3. A wrench as claimed in claim 1 wherein said movable jaw piece includes a shoulder portion adjacent a working surface of said movable jaw piece and adapted to be forcibly abutted by a nut on which said wrench is locked for moving said movable jaw piece relative to said support portion against the action of said spring means to a ratcheting position, said pivot pin moving form a foot portion of said pivot slot to a head pivot position in said pivot slot, said guide pin moving from said base portion of said guide slot past said shoulder to said stem portion of said guide slot.
 4. A wrench as claimed in claim 3 wherein said spring means include a first spring extending between said jaw support portion and a location on said movable jaw substantially forward of said guide slot base portion relative to a gripping surface of said jaw, and a second spring extending between said jaw support portion and a location on said movable jaw piece substantially rearward of said pivot slot, said pivot pin being normally held in the foot of said pivot slot, said guide pin being normally held below the shoulder in said base portion of said guide slot. 